Got your attention, didn't it? Now, this isn't a reflection on the goodness of the raw diet. Of being a vegan or a vegetarian or even a pescatarian. Jesus as a slab of meat... It was the topic of discussion among our staff this week as we reflected on the choices Christianity (and it's purveyors of history) decided for us: that salvation was the end all be all of our journey. How sad that the collective wisdom decided that instead of following Micah 6:8: doing what is fair and just, compassionate, loyal and loving, we would be about the ticket to heaven.
It sickens me and cheapens Jesus to being just a slab of meat. Bleeding. So that we can run about checking off our list, rather than creating sanctuaries. How often do we decide that our ministry is about the church as destination, instead of the church as the out-of-doors, God-among-us?

It will take a mindset that is beyond a church program, where we want to insulate our people from the edges of culture. It means actually going to where the people are, showing them a way of love, rather than the prescribed set of "must-do's" to inherit the kingdom of God. It's a crazy conundrum, friends: we inhabit this world... and we are called to bring the realm of God here and now. That means that Jesus was more than meat: it means his message of hope for outcasts and all kinds is alive and well. Not in the past, but now.